Shloka 15
ते हेमपुड्खैरिषुभिरददिता हेममालिन: । हताः पेतुर्महानागा: साग्निज्वाला इवाद्रय:,सोनेके पंखवाले बाणोंसे पीड़ित हुए वे सुवर्ण-मालाधारी बड़े-बड़े गजराज मारे जाकर आगकी ज्वालाओंसे युक्त पर्वतोंके समान धरतीपर गिर पड़े
te hemapuḍkhair iṣubhir adaditā hemamālinaḥ | hatāḥ petur mahānāgāḥ sāgnijvālā ivādrayaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Tormented by arrows whose shafts were adorned with gold, those great war-elephants, decked with golden garlands, were slain and fell upon the earth like mountains wreathed in tongues of fire.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tragic irony of war: even the most magnificent and powerful beings—elephant-lords adorned with gold—are reduced to lifeless ruin. It implicitly warns that worldly splendor and strength are fragile when driven into adharma-filled violence, and that battle consumes both beauty and life.
Sañjaya describes a battlefield scene where great elephants, ornamented with gold, are struck and tormented by gold-adorned arrows. They are killed and collapse to the ground, compared poetically to mountains blazing with fire.